Method and apparatus for manufacturing mitts

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for manufacturing disposable mitt for shining shoes having a first sheet of buffing material which is glued to a second sheet of material to which is attached a mass of quality shoe shine material for example in microcapsules or a sponge attached to the second sheet. A third sheet of material is removably glued to the side of the second sheet opposite the side to which the first sheet is glued so as to form a closed pocket which protects the shoe shine material in the microcapsules or sponge. Such a mitt can be made by continuously forming spongy masses at separated locations on a continuously moving sheet of the first material or depositing and attaching a suitable number of microcapsules, depositing patterns of glue at separated locations on a continuously moving sheet of the second material, pressing the first two continuously moving sheets together to form pockets, depositing suitable patterns of glue on a continuously moving sheet of the third material, pressing the third and second sheets together so that each pattern of glue on the third sheet defines a closed pocket which contains the shoe shine material and cutting the moving sheets to form the disposable mitts.

United States Patent [191 Eberly, Jr. et al.

[ Feb. 19, 1974 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING MITTS [75]Inventors: David H. Eberly, Jr., Fairfield;

Charles R. Schwartz, Wilton, both of Conn.

[73] Assignee: United States Banknote Corporation,

New York, NY.

22 Filed: Dec. 14, 1971 21 App]. No.: 207,946

[58] Field ofSearch..... 156/269, 90, 238, 249, 291, 155 2392 301, 5782- [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,511,303 6/1950 Stevenset a1 156/269 X 2,382,929 8/1945 Williams 156/548 X 3,377,773 4/1968Clark 53/178 3,299,464 1/1967 OBrien et al. 53/183 X 2,979,246 4/1961Liebeskind 156/78 X 2,946,370 7/1960 Muttera, Jr...... 1 56/552 X2,790,982 5/1957 Schneider 1 15/227 3,608,708 9/1971 Storandt 15/227Primary ExaminerDouglas J. Drummond Assistant ExaminerM. G. WityshynAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Cushman, Darby & Cushman [57] ABSTRACT A methodand apparatus for manufacturing disposable mitt for shining shoes havinga first sheet of buffing material which is glued to a second sheet ofmaterial to which is attached a mass of quality shoe shine material forexample in microcapsules or a sponge attached to the second sheetv Athird sheet of material is removably glued to the side of the secondsheet opposite the side to which the first sheet is glued so as to forma closed pocket which protects the shoe shine material in themicrocapsules or sponge. Such a mitt can be made by continuously formingspongy masses at separated locations on a continuously moving sheet ofthe first material or depositing and attaching a suitable number ofmicrocapsules, depositing patterns of glue at separated locations on acontinuously moving sheet of the second material, pressing the first twocontinuously moving sheets together to form pockets, depositing suitablepatterns of glue on a continuously moving sheet of the third material,pressing the third and second sheets together so that each pattern ofglue on the third sheet defines a closed pocket which contains the shoeshine material and cutting the moving sheets to form the disposablemitts.

7 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEB FEB I 91974 I SHfEI Q U? METHOD ANDAPPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING MITTS DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Theinvention relates to an apparatus for forming disposable mitts,particularly for shining shoes, and a method of forming such mitts.

Many shoes on the market today must be periodically shined in order tomaintain a glossy appearance with a uniform color. The usual way ofcarrying out this chore is by first applying, with an applicator, brush,or the like, a paste or liquid shoe polish, and then buffing the shoewith a cloth. Keeping on hand a fresh supply of shoe polish andsatisfactory cloths and applicators for this task is one of the minornuisances of modern life. The inevitable soiling of hands and otherimmediate objects with the shoe polish is also annoying. In order toeliminate the unpleasantries of this task, disposable shoe shine mittshave been developed and one such mitt is shown, for example, in theSchneider US. Pat. No. 2,790,982. In this patent, in particular, anapplicator is provided with three layers of material and a capsule ofshoe shine polish trapped between one of the two outer layers and themiddle layer. The outer layers are formed by folding a single sheet ofmaterial and bonding the edges together.

One difficulty with existing applicators is that they have not providedboth a satisfactory way of cleanly applying the shoe shine polish and aseparate sheet of suitable buffing material for buffing the shoes afterapplication of the polish in the conventional manner. Accordingly, theshine possible 'withthe applicator alone has been of considerably lowerquality than that which is possible by the conventional techniquesdescribed above. Another difficulty is that previously the mitts havenot been produced economically and quickly enough to permit them to bepriced in the market place so as to be a truly attractive product forgeneral use.

The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for forming amitt which is comprised of a first sheet of silicone-impregnated buffingmaterial which is glued to a second sheet of material to which isattached a spongy mass of material containing a high quality shoe shinematerial, preferably in liquid form or a number of microcapsules eachsimilarly containing such shoe shine material. Such a mitt is disclosedand claimed specifically in a copending application entitled Mitt byHobson Miller, filed herewith, the disclosure of which is explicitlyincorporated herein by reference. A third sheet of material is glued tothe side of the second sheet opposite the side to which the first sheetis glued so as to form a closed pocket containing the spongy mass whichprevents the shoe shine material in the spongy mass from evaporating orsimilarly protects the microcapsules from breakage. A mitt with thespongy mass can be used by simply removing the third sheet so as toexpose the spongy mass, rubbing the spongy mass over the surface of theshoe so as to deposit the shoe shine material on the surface of theshoe, reversing the mitt on the hand and buffing the shoe with the sheetof buffer materiaLTo ,use a mitt with microcapsules, the third sheetneed not be removed. Instead as the third sheet is rubbed over a shoe,the microcapsules break and the polish thus liberated moves continuouslythrough the third layer onto the shoe in small suitable quantities.Using this mitt and technique, an excellent shine which is comparable inquality to shines obtainable with the conventional technique describedabove is possible.

According to one aspect of this invention, such a mitt can be formed byan apparatus and according to a method whereby the spongy masses ofmaterial are formed at discrete intervals onto a continuously movingsheet of the second material. The spongy masses can be deposited on thesheet in fluid form as a foam and then subsequently dried or can beremoved from a roll of material having the spongy masses removably gluedonto a substrate. Alternatively, masses of micro-' capsules can bedeposited on the sheet at discrete intervals and attached by anysuitable means, for example glue. A pattern of glue can then bedeposited at discrete separated locations onto a continuously movingsheet of the first material, preferably by a roller, and the first andsecond sheets then pressed together to form pockets each having an openend between the sheets. A suitable pattern of glue is similarly disposedat separated intervals on a continuously moving sheet of the thirdmaterial, and then the third sheet is pressed atop the second sheet sothat each pattern of glue on the third sheet defines a closed pocketwhich contains a sponge mass impregnated with shoe shine liquid or 'themicrocapsules. The continuously moving sheets can then be cut to formdisposable mitts of the type described above.

Many other objects and purposes of the invention will become clear fromthe following detailed description of the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of anapparatus for producing a disposable shoe shine polishing mitt,

FIG. 2 shows an alternative arrangement for forming the sponge masses onthe second sheet of material,

FIG. 3 shows a view of the second sheet along the lines 33',

FIG. 4 shows a view of the first sheet along the lines 4-4,

FIG. 5 shows a view of the third sheet along the lines 55',

FIG. 6 shows a top view of one of the mitts produced according to theapparatus of FIG. 1,

FIG. 7 shows a side cutaway view of the mitt of FIG. 6 along the lines77', and

FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of a further apparatus for producing adisposable shoe shine mitt.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Reference is now made to FIG. 1which shows one embodiment of an apparatus according to this inventionfor forming a disposable shoe shine mitt. In the arrangement shown inFIG. 1, an extending sheet of substrate material 24, which is wound on aconventional roller 20, is continuously unwound and moved in thedirection indicated by the arrow by any suitable means past an apparatus22 which periodically deposits a mass of foam material onto thecontinuously moving sheet of material 24, which is preferably a polymerfilm. After deposit on material 24, the spongy masses pass through adwell region 30 over a plurality of rollers where the material foamsbefore entering the region adjacent conventional dryer 32 where the foammaterial deposited is heat cured to produce masses of spongy materialwhich-are capable of absorbing liquid shoe shine polish.

FIG. 3 shows a view of sheet 24 with separated spongy masses 35.

FIG. 2 shows an alternative arrangement for forming sponges on material24. In this arrangement a plurality of preformed sponge pads 34 are eachprovided with a contact sensitive glue applied to their bottom whichremovably attaches them to a glue-protective paper 36. Material 24 movescontinuously between rollers 38 and 40 in the direction indicated.Rollers 42 and 44 are driven intermittently to pull the glue protectingpaper 36 around the sharp edge of the support 46 and advance anotherpreformed sponge pad between the continuously rotating rollers 38 and 40which pull each pad in turn from paper 36 and press it into contact withmaterial 24 so that it is glued to material 24.

At the same time that the spongy masses are being formed on material 24,material 50, which is the material which forms the buffer in thedisposal mitt, is being unwound from conventional roller 52. Material 50moves continuously in the direction indicated by the arrow and betweentwo continuously rotating rollers 54 and 56. Roller 54 is a hardenedcylinder upon which has been drilled a small dimple pattern whichconforms to the glue pattern which is desired to be deposited uponmaterial 50 and which can be seen in FIG. 4. As cylinder 54 rotates, thedimples are filled with a hotmelt glue, the excessive glue is scrapedaway and the glue is transferred to the moving material 50 as it passesbetween rollers 54 and 56 in the same way that an intaglio impression isprinted on a piece of paper. Heat is required to melt the glue and,accordingly, suitable means for doing this are preferably provided forkeeping the printing cylinder 54 hot. A temperature of about 200400F.,depending upon the type of glue employed, has been shown satisfactory.Thus, material 50, as it emerges from the rollers 54 and 56, hassequential patterns of glue 55 on it, as can be seen in FIG. 4. Forreasons as will be apparent from the discussion below, each of thesepatterns is horseshoe-shaped with an open end.

The continuously moving material 24 and the continuously moving material50 are then pressed together as they move past roller 60 so that theglue patterns formed on material 50 by roller 54 fasten the side of thematerial 24 opposite the side bearing the spongy masses to one side ofmaterial 50. The movements of materials 50 and 24 are coordinated sothat a spongy mass will be located within each U-shaped glue pattern onmaterial 50 for reasons which will be apparent from the discussionbelow. After being glued together, continuously moving sheets 24 and 50pass between rollers 62 and 64 which serve to compress each spongy massof material. As the spongy mass emerges from between rollers 62 and 64,apparatus 66 sprays the material with a suitable liquid shoe shiningpolish. Compressing the sponge before impregnation improves thedistribution of shoe shining liquid through the spongy mass. A

sprayer then impregnates one side of sheet 50 with a silicone-materialto improve buffing.

The third sheet of material which forms the disposable mittof thisinvention is continuously unwound from a roll 70 at the same time thatsheets 24 and 50 are being unrolled. Sheet 72 similarly passes betweenrollers 74 and 76, and roller 74, like roller 54, deposits roughlyheart-shaped and are closed. Sheet 72, with the separated patterns ofglue thereon, is then pressed be- .tween rollers 75 and 77 against theupper surface of sheet 24 which bears the separated and now impregnatedmasses of spongy material, so that each of the spongy masses fallswithin the closed region defined by one of the glue patterns on sheet70. The three sheets which are now glued together then move betweenrollers 80 and 82 where they are cut into the individual disposablemitts.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, one such mitt, further described in theabove-mentioned Miller Application, is shown which is comprised of afirst sheet 90, a spongy mass of material 92 having shoe shine polish inor on it, a second sheet of material 94 which is glued to sheet 50 byhorseshoe-shaped pattern of glue 96 so as to leave an open end intowhich the fingers can be inserted, and a third sheet 98 which is gluedto the second sheet by a glue pattern 100 so as to form a pocket whichencloses spongy mass 92 between sheets 96 and 98 and protects it againstevaporation until used.

One way in which the disposable mitt shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 can beemployed is by first removing sheet 98 to expose the spongy mass 92. Byinserting the fingers into the open pocket between sheets and 94, theshoe shine and spongy mass 92 can be'applied and rubbed over the shoeswithout in any way soiling the fingers or applying the shoe shine polishto any other object. After a suitable amount of the shoe polish has beenapplied, the mitt can be reversed on the hand so that the palm facessheet 94 and buffing sheet 94 can then be used to buff the shoes inconventional fashion resulting in a highly satisfactory shine.

FIG. 8 shows a further embodiment in which suitable quantities ofmicrocapsules each containing a shoe shine polish are periodicallydeposited on sheet 24 from a suitable hopper 100. Sheet 24 is glued tosheet 50 in the same fashion discussed above and similarly sheet 24 isglued to sheet 72. The elements of FIG. 8 which bear the same numbers asthe elements of FIG. I perform the same functions.

The mitt produced by the apparatus of FIG. 8 appears the same as themitt of FIGS. 6 and 7. However to use a mitt having microcapsules, thethird sheet is preferably not removedand the polish from the brokenmicrocapsules permitted to seep through the third sheet as the mitt isrubbed over the shoe. The mitt is thereafter reversed on the hand forbuffing.

Many changes and modifications in the above embodiments of the inventioncan be made without departing from the scope-of the invention.Accordingly, that scope is intended to be limited only by the scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for producing a disposable mitt for shining shoescomprising: i

means for providing a quantity of shoe shining material at each of aplurality of separated locations on one side of a first extending sheetof first material,

first means for gluing the side of said first sheet opposite said oneside to one side of a second extending sheet of buffing material so asto form a plurality of pockets between said sheets, each having an openside,

second means for gluing said one side of said first sheet to one side ofa third extending sheet so as to form a plurality of closed pockets eachcontaining one of said quantities of shoe shining material and means forcutting together said three sheets at separated locations so as to formdisposable mitts each having one of said pockets between said first andsecond sheets for receiving the fingers of a hand and one of said closedpockets containing one of said quantities.

2. Apparatus in claim 1 wherein said shoe shining material is containedin a spongy mass further including means for impregnating said masseswith liquid shoe shining material.

3. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said providing means includes meansfor depositing microcapsules each containing said shoe shine material.

4. Apparatus as in claim 1 further including means for continuouslymoving said first, second and third sheets.

5. Apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said forming means includes means forperiodically applying a mass of foam material in fluid state to themoving first sheet, and drier means adjacent the path of movement ofsaid first sheet for solidifying the foam masses added.

6. Apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said forming means includes means forintermittently removing sponge masses serially mounted on a substratefrom that substrate and attaching the removed mass onto said firstsheet.

7. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said first gluing means includes afirst cylindrical roller which rotates as glue pattern on said one sideagainst said second sheet. =1:

1. Apparatus for producing a disposable mitt for shining shoescomprising: means for providing a quantity of shoe shining material ateach of a plurality of separated locations on one side of a firstextending sheet of first material, first means for gluing the side ofsaid first sheet opposite said one side to one side of a secondextending sheet of buffing material so as to form a plurality of pocketsbetween said sheets, each having an open side, second means for gluingsaid one side of said first sheet to one side of a third extending sheetso as to form a plurality of closed pockets each containing one of saidquantities of shoe shining material and means for cutting together saidthree sheets at separated locations so as to form disposable mitts eachhaving one of said pockets between said first and second sheets forreceiving the fingers of a hand and one of said closed pocketscontaining one of said quantities.
 2. Apparatus as in claim 1 whereinsaid shoe shining material is containeD in a spongy mass furtherincluding means for impregnating said masses with liquid shoe shiningmaterial.
 3. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said providing meansincludes means for depositing microcapsules each containing said shoeshine material.
 4. Apparatus as in claim 1 further including means forcontinuously moving said first, second and third sheets.
 5. Apparatus asin claim 4 wherein said forming means includes means for periodicallyapplying a mass of foam material in fluid state to the moving firstsheet, and drier means adjacent the path of movement of said first sheetfor solidifying the foam masses added.
 6. Apparatus as in claim 4wherein said forming means includes means for intermittently removingsponge masses serially mounted on a substrate from that substrate andattaching the removed mass onto said first sheet.
 7. Apparatus as inclaim 1 wherein said first gluing means includes a first cylindricalroller which rotates as said second sheet moves for laying a firstpattern of glue on said one side of said second sheet at separatedlocations and a second roller which presses said second sheet with saidglue pattern on said one side against said first sheet, and said secondgluing means includes a third cylindrical roller which rotates as saidthird sheet moves for laying a second pattern of glue on said one sideof said third sheet at separated locations and a fourth roller whichpresses said third sheet with said glue pattern on said one side againstsaid second sheet.